3- Research

Edit 0 34 …
Each member in our small group located two articles about our topic. After a week long discussion on our findings, we noticed several themes that connected our articles:

• The needs of the individual teacher need to be taken into consideration in order to make professional development meaningful to the teacher.
• The teacher must be able to apply what is being learned in the professional development to his/her own students
• Because it is one model of professional development, it shares many similarities with other models of professional development (needs assessment, using best practices, and using results for improvement).

Here are the summaries from our articles (some are very helpful resources while others present peer reviewed research findings):

  • Hassel, E. (1999) The National Awards Program for model professional development. Retrieved Sep. 4, 2010 from __http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/pd/lftb.pdf__This has many great blank forms to help through all stages of PD, but it is more global. It is the big picture of PD. Check out this site before you create a form for professional development. Why reinvent the wheel?

  • Klausmeier, H. (1992). Permanent educational reform: Individually guided education. Education, 113(2), 219-231. This article brings together information on the development and adoption of Individually Guided Education (IGE), the loss of momentum of Individually Guided Development, and the re-emergence of IGE.

  • Klausmeier, H. (1971). The multi-unit elementary school and individually guided education. The Phi Delta Kappan, 53(3), 181-184. Summary: This article shows us how individually guided education successfully implemented at the student level can be a roadmap for how teachers will want their Professional Development the same way. While cost and work force can and will be an issue, we can overcome it by being creative and thinking outside the box.

  • Prince Geoge’s County Public Schools. (n/d). Ideas for Staff Development. Retrieved Sep.1, 2010, from __http://www.pgcps.pg.k12.md.us/~elc/staffdevideas.html__ This article had the NSDC Standards, Models for Staff Development, A Paradigm Shift in Staff Development and Evaluating Staff Development Efforts.It provided a great summary of 5 different models of professional development in a nice chart form that we used on the previous page. It has links to the other areas listed above that are interesting for staff development too.

  • Redford, L. (1999). Relationship between a teacher's Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) type and a preferred staff development model as perceived by teachers. Dissertation Abstracts International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 59(12-A), Dissertati-A)44060419. The articles presents a study that determined if teachers who had the same personality types liked similar staff development models. It does not focus on the individually-guided model only, but it is one of the models studied.

  • Social Studies Center. Texas Education Agency, 2001. Retrieved on Sep. 4, 2010 from__http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/ssc/training_modules/models/individually_guided.htm__ Here is a link for the chart that we used on the previous page that lists what the teacher can do with individually guided staff development on the left, and what the principal can do on the right to support teachers. It is from the Social Studies Center and has many other staff development resources.

  • Sparks, D. & Loucks-Horsley, S. (1989). Five models of staff development for teachers. Journal of Staff Development, 10(4), 40-57. Researchers found that 78% of teachers thought that having considerable control over their own learning made a substantive difference in their classrooms.

  • Steiner, L. (1999). What research says about profressional development. Retrieved Sep. 4, 2010 from __http://www.learningpt.org/pdfs/pd/lftb.pdf__ This article has a 3 step process for Professional Development (PD). This process can be used with any PD model.

  1. Step One: Designing Professional Development (PD) - Includes support for School and District’s long-term plan, needs assessment, professional development goals, content, process and activities), supports research, resources, and evaluation.
  2. Step Two: Implementing Professional Development - Includes incorporating best practices, making sure policies support PD, keeping resources available, and making PD an everyday occurrence.
  3. Step Three: Evaluating and Improving Professional Development - Includes using goals, deciding who is responsible for data, and using results to make improvements. PD should include (a) Improvement in Teaching, (b) Improvement in Student Learning, and (c) Narrowing of Student Achievement Gaps.


  • Wiersma, W. (1986). Individually guided education: An alternative form of schooling. This article discusses Individually Guided Education (IGE) which is an educational innovation, developed during the late 1960s and early 1970s, that originated at the Wisconsin Research and Development Center for Cognitive Learning. It is one of the few innovations that was scheduled for national implementation. The conceptual origins of IGE have their roots in educational psychology with a behavioristic approach to learning. As an alternative approach to schooling, IGE involves differentiated staffing, multiaged grouping of children, and the direct involvement of the principal in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of the instructional activities of the school.

  • Willis, C. , & Bahner, J. (1974). Implementing individually guided education. Theory into Practice, 13(2), 103-106. Summary: Implementation of individually guided education requires that we vary our instructional modes regularly to keep student interested by wondering, “What will come next?” Even though it is harder to apply this to Professional Development, the benefits outweigh the potential problems.